Business Notes

Even as allied planes dominate Middle East skies, a big dogfight may be developing above the U.S. The gulf conflict has sent jet-fuel prices soaring and passenger travel plunging, creating brutal competition in the airline industry. Last week the big got bigger as American, United, Delta and Northwest all picked over the carcass of Eastern Air Lines. In a bankruptcy auction they divvied up 238 landing and takeoff slots, 48 boarding gates and four of the failed carrier's routes. The biggest winner: Delta, with 16 landing and takeoff slots, 21 boarding gates and three routes serving Canada for $157 million. The losers: small carriers such as America West, Midwest Express and Southwest, which bid but came up empty.

Carriers that were already weak lost even more altitude. Pan Am, which filed for bankruptcy last month, announced that it would cut its work force 15%, or 4,000 employees, while further scaling back service to Europe. Financially troubled TWA missed scheduled debt payments of $76 million. Says industry analyst Rose Ann Tortora: "The strong are getting stronger, and the weak are screaming uncle."